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Monday, February 27, 2012

The Canadian Union of Public Employees is taking issue with the suggestion that not opening 22 provincial government garages for the summer would have saved enough money to buy enhanced M-R-I's for hospitals in Saint John and Moncton.

The Give 2012 wants to raise $750,000 for the New Brunswick Centre.Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation Director Victoria Clarke tells CHSJ News 13,000 people walks through the doors of the NB Heart Centre for treatment every year.

She tells us the NB Heart Centre is funded for 800 cardiac surgeries every year adding when they came to the foundation with some needs they wanted to ask on them immediately.

The 2012 campaign will invest in 11 pieces of equipment including two complete heart-lung machines and a cerebral oxygen saturation monitor.

City police tell CHSJ News they do not think a weekend home invasion was a random act.

Major Crime arresting four people after the incident on yesterday (Sunday) morning just after 11am on a home on Peters Street.Two men in their 30's and two women, one in her twenties and one in her fifties, are due in court today facing charges of break and enter, assault with a weapon, possession of a controlled drug and probation violation.

The defamation trial of former Common Councillor John Ferguson continues to hear from Saint John East M-L-A Glen Tait, a former Common Councillor himself and pension board trustee.Tait told the court he grew increasingly frustrated with Ferguson making allegations without offering up any proof to substantiate them and believes a conflict of interest allegation was mean't to discredit him personally.

Tait was receiving a city pension while serving on Council along with the pension board and sought a legal opinion as to whether he was in a conflict of interest but tells the jury his pension benefits did not change or increase.

Tait freely admits, at the time in 2007, Common Council and City Staff were not having a positive relationship and Ferguson got under his skin many times.

In a letter to Council, City Solicitor John Nugent called the allegations being made about the pension board "reckless".

Tait opposed Ferguson's suggestion of setting up an ethics commission believing it would only foster the public impression that something wrong was going on.

The Saint John Police Force looking into an armed robbery on Saturday night at the Garnett Shell Service Station on Wellesley Ave.Police are looking for two white men in their twenties who left the area on foot with some cash.

No one was hurt in the robbery.

One man is described as between 5 feet and 5 foot 5 weighing 220 pounds and the other is between 6 feet and 6 foot 5 with a skinny build.Both men were wearing blue jeans, sneakers and a black jacket with a hood.

If you know anything call the Saint John Police Force at 648-3333 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

Get ready for the temporary closures of one eastbound lane on the Saint John Harbour Bridge over the next eight weeks.

The closures are necessary to allow crews to prepare for the final phase of bridge work, which will close both eastbound lanes from April 15 until the fall.

Transportation Minister Claude Williams says in a release that up until April 15, they are committed to keeping at least three of the four lanes open at all times. Williams notes it will be necessary to close one lane at times to allow crews to do preliminary work in advance of the closure of the eastbound lanes.

The temporary lane closures will only take place during non-peak hours between 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m Monday through Saturday and the closures are dependent upon the weather.

Opposition Liberal leader Victor Boudreau claims there wouldn't be any problem having money for enhanced M-R-I's at the Regional Hospital and in Moncton but for campaign promises that don't make sense.

Boudreau maintains there would be plenty of money available to pay for enhanced M-R-I machines in Saint John and Moncton had the Premier not fulfilled a campaign promise to keep 22 government garages open all summer even after the Transportation Department says it's not necessary.A controversy has arisen over the province turning down an offer of a million dollars from the Saint John Regional Hospital Foundation to help pay for the more expensive M-R-I machine.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Canada releasing a survey where 30 per cent of adults say bullying from their youth caused them life long harm.

James Connor is a little brother and tells CHSJ News he has experienced bullying.

He says he was always a different kid when he moved from the west side to the north end. James tells us he wore glasses and was a bit on the chunky side so he thinks bullies targeted him thinking he wouldn't stick up for himself.

Connor also tells us when he was being bullied he had people he could go to including his Big Brother Mike McCarron.